Mail-marking machine.



.Np. 833,754. PATENTED OCT. 23, 1906.

W. J. SHEBTZ. MAIL MARKING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 6, 1903. RENEWED 131113.27, 1906.

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UNITED STATES. PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM J. SHEETZ, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, ASSIGNOR TO FEDERAL MARKING-MACHINE COMPANY, OF WASHINGTON, DIS- TRICT OF COLUMBIA, A CORPORATION OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUM- BIA.

. MAIL-MARKING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 23, 1906.

To cLZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM J. SHEETZ, a citizen of the United States, residing at Washington, in the District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mail-Marking Machines; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enablegothers skilled in the art to which bility of the mail being marked a second time and the possibility of the smearing of the ink on the mail, and delivering and stacking it on the stacker-table; and it consists of the parts and combinations of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a plan view of a mail-marking machine containing my improved take-ofi and stacking device. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the system of gearing employed to operate the various parts of the machine; Fig. 3, a detail plan view of the bearing for wheel P.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout all the views.

Referring to the drawings, A represents the table of the machine, and B an inclined chute or tray having side guides or walls O and D and an end guide or wall E. The end guide or wall E is slotted to receive the feedwheel F, and the guide or wall 0 is alsoslotted for the separating disk or wheel G, and said walls C and E are arranged so that mailmatter may readily pass between them and out of the tray or chute and to and between the pressure-roller or platen H and the stamping or marking die I.

J represents an inking-wheel, and K an inkfeeding device for said inking-wheel.

L is a follower arranged to slide on a track or rod M, secured alongside the chute, which assists the mail in its gravitation down said chute. I I All the parts above mentioned are fully described andclaimed in my pending application for Letters Patent, filed March 19, 1903, Serial No. 148,471, to which reference is made for a more detailed description, and form no part of my present invention, which is confined to the means for removing the mail from the marking device and stacking it on the stacker-table, as will now be described. N represents a guideway formed by a pair of separated and parallel upright pieces on the table A, which lead to the stacker-table O and preferably form continuations of the walls of said tables, as shown. The peripheries of the marking die-wheels I and .the

pressure-wheel II project through suitableslots formed in the walls of the guideway N, and adjacent said wheel and die are arranged the take-off wheels P P, whose peripheries also project through slots in the walls of guideway N from opposite sides thereof. These wheels P P are suitably tired to frictionally grasp mail-matter and are journaled to the table A, the wheel P being on a relatively fixed bearing and the wheel P on a spring-pressed bearing P The wheels are thus kept continually in contact and positioned to grasp the envelop or other piece of mail and pull it through the guideway after it has been canceled or marked and deliver .it onto the stacker-table 0, where it is struck by a rotary tappet R and pushed against a follower-block S, which slides loosely or freely on the table O and gradually moves backward as the number of pieces of mail increases in front thereof. The position of the take-off wheels P P in relation to the platen-wheel and marking-die is such that on account of the more rapid rotation of the take-off wheels the envelop or mail-matter, after cancellation is quickly drawn or snatched from between the platen-wheel and the canceling wheel or die, and thus a second cancellation avoided. The tappet R consists of a hub having a number of bent or curvedarms projecting therefrom, which extend through a slot in the wall of the stacker-table in position to strike the mail-matter immediately after it leaves the guideway.

Referring more particularly to Fig. 2, a represents the gear for the feed-wheel F; b,

the gear for the separator-disk G; c, the" ear for the marking die or wheel I; d, an i lergear; 6, the gear for the take-off wheel P; f and g, idler-gears, and h the gear for the tappet-wheel R. The gearing is so proportioned that the wheels P and P revolve faster than the canceling and platen wheels, and preferably two or three times as fast, so that the envelop after marking is shot onto the stacker-table. 'T represents the ink-well.

The general operation of the machine is as.

follows: The envelops or other pieces of mail to be marked or canceled are placed on edge in the chute or tray, down which they gravi tate toward the lower left-hand corner thereof, assisted by the follower L. The feedwheel F tends to urge the lowest envelop to- 3 ward the left; but the separator G, whichrotates oppositely to wheel F, keeps pressing back the envelops and effects the separation thereof in such manner that only one en'- velop at a time is allowed to be forced by the feed-wheel past the sap arat'or-wheel and into the guideway N. The marking 01' ea'n'celing die or wheel is so timed that the cancellation will be effected at the proper point, after which the envelop is passed farther alon the guideway by the action of the can'ce' gwheel I and the platen-wheel H until it gets into the bite of the take-ofi wheels P and P, which are revolving faster than the wheels H and I, and as soon as the envelop is in the,

bite of said wheels P P it is quickly drawn along the guideway and clear of the-canceL- so that when the end 'of the envelop enters between the take-off wheels and is grasped' thereby it has been completely marked, and it is instantly pulled from between the platenwheel and the stamping-wheel before the die thereon is in position to again mark the envelop. The guideway-walls prevent the ends of the letters curling or bending around the canceling-wheel 0r platen as said letters leave the same and insure their entrance end foremost between the take-off wheels, thus obviating all liability of thin or short letters being curled around the cancelingwheel or the platenand of clogging the space between the'canceling-wheel and the takeoff wheels, and thus causing a stoppage of the machine.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1 A mail marking' machine 'comprising a table, a chute from which the mail-matter is guided onto the table, a stacker-table having walls and a pair of separated and parallel upright pieces extending to a point adjacent to the outlet from the chute, and providing a guideway, a markingdie and a pressureroller working through the upright pieces adjacent to the chute, and a pair of take-01f wheels working through the upright pieces adjacent to the stacker-table. I

2. A mail-marking machine comprising a table, a chute from which the mail-matter is guided onto the table, a stacker-table having walls and a pair of separated and parallel upright pieces extending to a point adjacent tothe outlet from the chute and providi'n' a guideway, a marking-die and pressure-r0 ler working through the upright pieces adjacent to the chute, a pair of take-off wheels working through the upri ht pieces adjacent to the stacker-table an tappet-wheel having curved arms working through the wall of the stacker.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence 'of two witnesses. I

WILLIAM J. SHEETZ. Witnesses:

HUGH STERLING, DANL. F. HALL. 

